New techniques of characterisation

During the last decade, amazing advances in microelectronics have led to the development of large infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPAs) with a high density of pixels per square centimetre. Bispectral and soon multispectral detectors are now under development. In order to follow or even anticipate this race for spatial and spectral resolution, new techniques of characterisation have been developed in our laboratory, allowing the measurement of the spatial and spectral responses of a hundred of thousands pixels forming the IRFPA. Thus, a test bench for the measurement of hyperspectral cartographies has been realised. The principle of measurement and experimental results will be presented. For the measurement of spatial responses, the projection of targets that illuminate the entire surface of the IRFPA and contain sub-pixel details is required in order to extract the line (or spot) spread function of every pixel. For this, non-imaging techniques of projection based on the self-imaging property of periodic targets have been elaborated. The first results and the potential of this original approach will be discussed. To cite this article: N. Guérineau et al., C. R. Physique 4 (2003).